Proposal for Editorial Board Jan Van Eyck Academy
Maastricht , Fine Art Department
Project title: www.lovARcTivism.net
Author: Gabriela Vasic, Serbia and Montenegro
Circumstances:
The sexual revolution, along with the emancipation of women, and the feminist movement in general, have all brought about liberate views on the previous bourgeoisie way of life and caused a transformation of traditional values. Along with this, the greatest change upon the context of reception, body, presentation, market, and culture in general, was made on behalf of information revolution. The subject of the proposed project could be seen in intercontextualization within cyber culture's relation towards issues of love and cybernetic art forms.
Cyber culture regulates its needs through Web services. What happens when from any reason (in this case artistic) their intentions are undermined? The most visited Web sites are Contact Web sites, those on which «Love», free sex marketing, acquaintances for friendship and potential marriage are offered. And this is the area in which my project is to take a part. In the information era, replication, simulation, parody and irony took a place of naturalistic paradigm of representation that died along with traditionalism. Life in Internet (communities) is for the most another family. To connect? Cyber Love? Search? Go? Why this phenomenon has such anthropological dimensions? To belong, to be anonymous, to have a company, to be On Line!? Is it a reflection of post-modern alienation? Is it a reflection of consumption ideology that breads newborn ways of addiction? Identity is a phenomenon under the permanent reconstruction and is it the echo of uncertainty that has its ontological level? These post-modern phenomena are they just another face of chameleon adaptation in new circumstances of alienation of our species?
Idea:
Asking about relation between consumption and love, art and any other product put on Web (in form of graphics or photo images), I am interested in testing receptive, ideological, socio cultural matrices of Web population. My questions are: How are formed models of self-presentations in the post-modern, post-industrial era?( How technology affects multiplying identities by media channels that might have a mastering position towards ones choice?) What is the relation within multiplied, desirable identity and ego goals concerning partners on Net? What are relations between cultural matrices brought up by neo capitalism, informational technologies, love and methods of seducing? And at the end, is my project able to communicate with non-artistically educated population searching for love/fun using methods of simulation along with irony and parody as artistic strategies? The aim of the project is to play with marketing on the Web in order to provoke users to reformulate their cultural habits, to change their stereotypical attitudes concerning consumption of body, sex, gender and love. It opens a subversive cyber feminist horizon in which I will simulate a form of commercial web sites. Using undermining methods is cyber art efficient as enlightening and didactic tool or it is just another artistic medium for cyber elite?
• I. «Sweet Love», degustation .... and audio-visual performance «SOFT HARD»
• II. An interactive web site: www.lovARcTivism.net 1. »Love Greetings», interactive workshop and a product for Web, greeting cards with sound 2. Interactive Web projects «Ideal Partner». 3. a ) Video performance and installation, 2 b) Web offer: «Love by measure».
Parts of the Web project are planed to be exhibited in the form of solo exhibition after the process of preparation is ended and before opening the site www.lovARcTionism.net .
Detailed description of the project:
There are two main parts of the project, the introductory audio visual performance (I) and the Web project (II). An introductory performance has to inform the artists about the project and to invite to take a part in my project:
I. «Sweet Love», degustation .... and audio-visual performance «SOFT HARD». Performance «Sweet Love» is the introduction to the audio-visual performance «SOFT HARD» and the meeting of artistic reality with the project.
Performance «Sweet Love» is to point to our most common perception of love which is often associated/confused with the feeling of being in love and it propagates the idea that «Love is Satisfaction». Apart from that , this perception correlates with consumption, i.e. the presentation of performance in the form of a desert, with separate sweets: biscuits and chocolates in the form of female and male figures, (both black-chocolate, and white-buiscquites) will point to the promiscuity within relationship and to love consumption, which stem from the idea of «Love as Satisfaction». When comes disappointment the feeling or the illusion of being in love dissolves as a sweet pleasure which we experiance during the consuption of sweets. Samples of aluminium moduls are going to hang from the cealing and to be combined with the projection of moving heads of light. «Soft Hard» is a story about female and male relations in love, and they show the relations of equality, domination, neglecting. The «story» about meeting, togetherness and break up is going to be «spoken» with the use of visual and technical tools (color, speed, dimer, strobo, lenses, pan and tilt chanels, prizm) of these maschines without which the industry of entertainment could't exsist. I plan to cooperate with DJs. The even shold have the air of club event.
II. An interactive web site: www.lovARcTivism.net is conceived to be formed as a simulation of regular Web sites which deal with commercial products. The difference is that it will be used for promotion of the artists' practice. The entering on web starts with an inquiery for logging which has uncommon questions on web. They are in relation with subversive aims of the project and should simulate the the users' intentions. It should provoke user to continue searching and open the page on which he/she will meet with his/hers inner projectoins. It consists of three subprojects which are based on creative workshops («Love Greatings», «Love by measure») and the cyber project presenting 2D portrait (of ) «Ideal Partner».
Samples of questions in the Web inquery:
• How many web serveces you use for your On line meetings?
• If yes, how many people replied?
• Do you have constant conntact with someone from Chat?
• What do you expect from Net dates?
• Do you know somone whom Web conntacts made happy?
• Do you find yourself popular?
• Do you know about any web victims?
• Would you like to order your 2D ideal cyber partner?
• If yes, what would be the ideal phrase he/she could speak for you?
• Your photo!
• Your e-mail address?
1. »Love Greetings», an interactive workshop and a product for Web, greeting cards with sound.
Workshop «Love Greetings» is audio visual project which has to gather artists of different media as well as technicians from the Academy Jan Van Dyck in order to cooperate and produce the greetings with sound. This product should have a comercial character but the price of greeting cards will be extremlly big comparing with the cost of production and will be estemated as an unique art piece. It will be followed by commercial expressions as: «Order unique love greeting cards for your loveones!» It has to tease those who pay for love and to provoke them to think about it. The spirit of discoussion should lead into a creative process and bring a humoristic effect on the topic which is to be presented on the cards. All partitipans will share the income of the project if there is one!
2. a ) Video performance and instalation, b) Web offer: «Love by measure». It is a work in progrss in which records of one project serve in other coprojects.
a) It is an ineractive work in the form of performance which is supposed to be hold during the lenght of my stay at the Academy. The artists who wish to participate in my project would be interviewed and that video material will be used for editing video performance. During the interviews concerning conceptions and stereotypes in love, I would measure the interviewiees heads in order to make models for Helmets. By the end of the process of recording, presentation of the work will follow in the form of video instalation. Besides this, when the production of Helmets is finished, artist with Helmets will be photographed and these images are going to be used for Web presentation in the form of announcement for the project using phrazes as: «Order the Helmet, protect yourself!», or «Provide the Helmet which protects you from unsutable partner!» This leads to the other part of the project.
b) It is related to 2 D modeling in different cloths «ordered» by Web user. The inquiry about type, size, color and shape will follow as well as instrucions for providing protection. A mixture of faces of artists, scientists and famuous actress/actors and show bussines personalites are going to be «offered» in 2 d, as sillueths of anfaces and profiles. Instructions will follow: «Choose the face which is the most suitable for you».» Choose one of the Helmets», (the server will switch faces with the helmets), «Download this image in your p.c.» «Use Your camera or existing photo, use Photoshop or other graphic programme, make a photomontage and use this designed image for your personal representation on Net dates». Now it's your new cyber identity! «Make yourself creative, don't spend money!», «Make yourself different!».
3. Interactive web project: «Ideal Partner». «Ideal Partner» should give the air of fullfilment to the user, at the begining, but at the end it leads to the text which has to break users illusions and intensions. The inquery has to lead the user to «order» the portrairt. Instead of that I am goning to offer them the selection of several profiles or images in 2 D, which are derived from knowen scientists, pop stars, porno stars or actress/actorss. They should clikc on image and afther that the text appears: «I am your ideal partner but you can not have me!», «What you want is not what you get!», «Your Ideal Partner exists only in your head!»,...
As the project is about fabricated identities, ideal identities of partners, and in general about the question of «True Love», first I am going to make interviews of artist, use their images, make photograps, and sketchies and than make 2 D works on different plastic folias. On these «portraits» I am going to make interventions on surface with acryl colors and provocative text. These images as well as images of some scientists and people from show bussines are going to be mixed and used for Web. It will be a gallery of 2 D faces.